Where can the England Parliamentary Papers be read??

I am interested in reading the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, specifically the section that relates to the appointment and discontinuation of staff in the Excise Office. I found Volume 14 online, which was quite interesting, and I am now interested in the period from 1800-1816 and 1829-1846 specifically, where I am looking for the appointment and discontinuation of a John Meredith Excise Officer.

I can't find the other volumes I'm interested in online. Where can they be read in England in person (should I ever visit there in the not so distant future)?

 

Much thanks Jan

 

Also the British Library may be useful. They have a 'quick chat' option, where you can ask specific questions

Code:

https://www.bl.uk/catalogues-and-collections?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoNyuvOu13wIVrLftCh3jtQxcEAAYASAAEgKS8vD_BwE

 

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers are notoriously difficult to access as there are so few complete sets in institutions. Most in the UK are in universities which mere mortals usually find difficult to access. The British Library in St Pancras is pretty certainly your best bet (see Ann's post above) although it would help if you knew which volumes you required and then ask for them to be made available before going to the library to consult them.

You seem to have the volume numbers you require - if they are from Peter Cockton's 5 volume subject catalogue to the 1801-1900 HofC Parliamentary Papers then that would speed everything up.

Code:

https://col.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/ghl/search/results?qu=cockton&te=

It is, of course, incredibly difficult to get your hands on a set!

See also>

Code:

https://parlipapers.proquest.com/help/parlipapers/Introduction%20to%20the%20Subject%20Catalogue,%201801-1900.html

The Parliamentary Papers are available at the National Library of Australia and, depending where you live, they may be able to identify other holdings which may be nearer to you and which may be quite accessible if you are a local citizen (as a former public librarian I never shied away from telling awkward academics that I had serious research needs and as a tax-payer I helped pay for the material anyway!).

I see that The National Archives at Kew have the pension records and staff lists etc for Customs Officers – wouldn't these be sufficient?

Code:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/customs-officers/

 

Oh wow! I hope I've read this correctly! It appears that if you get a library card from the National Library of Australia you can access the Parliamentary Papers database for free.

It must be Christmas!

Code:

http://heritagegenealogy.com.au/house-of-commons-parliamentary-papers/

 

Our National Library Card does promise access to many & varied places. If you remember that you have one.

 

Yes. I was sent on a mental search for mine today. I believe I know where it is. Just can’t be bothered. Ah! There it is. With my State Records card, old local library card that’s quite useless now, the old wifi card that’s also quite useless now. Perhaps I need a clean out of useless cards.

 

...or renewal?

 

Thanks Flook, the National Archives may have what I want but there are a lot of index records to sort through to narrow my hunt down, whereas when I had a look at Parliamentary Papers Volume 14 online it only took a few minutes to find a John Meredith - Excise Officer posted in Newmarket (sadly he's probably the wrong one, as mine would most likely have served in either Liverpool or Radnorshire or Herefordshire). I suspect in the end I may have to use both data sources to identify my relative. Roll on the day when GoogleBooks has all the volumes online. In the meantime it will be easier to get from Perth to Canberra than to London!

 

Oh no - what it means is that with a Library Card from the NLA you can access the database free online from your home!

 

You don't have to go to Canberra. Just apply for a library card, when you have the details of your card just go to their eResources and in Find a resource just put House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, then just follow it through from there. :green-happy:

 

Well that does look quite encouraging Sis, so I've just applied for a library card and will see after it arrives what I can find online in their e-Resource. Thanks again to everyone in the Top Dogs "hive-mind" for the helping hand. "Hive-mind" is a reference to the Borg Collective communal intelligence in Star Trek, for those of you who don't follow sci-fi.